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AIGA and the Design Industry in 2015

Last week I participated in an AIGA roundtable discussion. The roundtable was brought together to review the needs and requirements of the organization, and to discuss the overall direction AIGA should take going forward.

There was a lot of great insight, and points brought up during the meeting, but it was interesting to see how designers in all sections of the industry were agreeing a common point: there is a void when it comes to a designer’s role as business leaders. This is a concern that I also strongly share.

It’s been refreshing to see that American businesses and people are beginning to understand of the value that comes with thoughtful high-quality design. In reality we are still playing catch-up with the rest of the world, but the fact is we’re not so stagnant anymore. The problem, however, is that it’s very rare for designers to be the ones shedding light on the importance of design as it pertains to business success.

Much of our discussion revolved around the fact that designers tend to focus all of their attention around their artwork, and not the returns realized by their work and the decisions that they made. If our roundtable is any indication of the final decisions the AIGA board members make at their leadership retreat, it will be a much needed shift in the overall conversation.